WACO — With 15 days until the season opener, Baylor coach Art Briles isn’t ready to announce his starting quarterback.

“We’re still going through the process,” Briles said Tuesday at Floyd Casey Stadium. “We feel fortunate to have this many guys that are that good at that position.”

Briles, in his first season at Baylor, is guarding his quarterback plans like a classified document. He is careful not to tip his hand, although he admits it’s a three-man competition among freshman Robert Griffin, returning starter Blake Szymanski and Miami (Fla.) transfer Kirby Freeman.

The Bears, looking to snap a 13-year bowl drought, open the season Aug. 28 at home against Wake Forest. When Baylor began fall camp last week, Briles said a decision might not be made until the team takes the field for pregame warm-ups.

“Seriously, I wish I was kidding,” he said.

Briles has several options to consider:

• e_SBltGriffin, 18, enrolled at Baylor for the spring semester and participated in spring practice. Of the three candidates, he is the least experienced but most athletically gifted.

• e_SBltSzymanski, a junior, set school records for total yards (2,942), passing yards (2,844) and touchdowns (22) in 10 games last season.

• e_SBltFreeman, who has one year of eligibility remaining after enrolling in graduate-level classes, made seven starts in three years at Miami. He threw two touchdown passes in the Hurricanes’ victory over Nevada in the 2006 MPC Computers Bowl.

“We’re going to go with the guy that gives us the best opportunity to win,” Briles said.

Briles is no stranger to quarterback conundrums. Last season at the University of Houston, he split the quarterbacking duties between Case Keenum and Blake Joseph for a majority of the season.

“That’s why they call him coach,” Freeman said of Briles. “He’s the one that makes the decisions. I’m just happy to be part of the foundation for what he’s trying to do for this program.”

Despite being a freshman, Griffin does not consider himself at a disadvantage,

“I’m glad coach Briles gave me a shot,” said Griffin, who posted the third-fastest time in school history (49.22 seconds) to win the Big 12 title in the 400-meter hurdles last spring. “It really worked well because he came in with a new system, so everybody had to learn it. So these guys didn’t have an upper hand on me at all.”

During the Big 12 media tour in Kansas City, Mo., in late July, Briles squashed Internet chatter that the Bears planned to redshirt Griffin this season.

“A lot of schools would have redshirt me or switched my position,” Griffin said. “By them letting me compete for the spot, it’s not only showing everybody what I’ve got, but it’s showing the team what I have, and it builds a lot of confidence in the team.”

Griffin originally committed to UH but opted to follow Briles to Baylor.

“A lot of people were angry or upset that I left Houston, but it really wasn’t a commitment to the people in the community,” Griffin said. “It was more of a commitment to the coach and the program. When he came over to Baylor, I just decided to follow him.”

Why switch from a UH program that has been to a bowl in four of the past five years to a Baylor program that hasn’t been to the postseason since 1994?

“A lot of people don’t want to be a part of the building process,” Griffin said. “They want to go somewhere where it’s already built up and they just have to be a role player. I just wanted to come here and be a part of something new, something special.”

Regardless of how the quarterback battle goes, Freeman, 24, is willing to serve as a mentor to Griffin.

“I’ve been around the block and seen some things that Robert probably hasn’t seen,” Freeman said. “I’m here for him to lean on and ask questions. Whether it’s this year or next year, he is the future of Baylor football.”